New musical YOUNG ROMANTICS in development from Bastille's Dan Smith

It's a dark and stormy night at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva, where five young and notorious friends have gathered: Lord Byron, Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and Dr John Polidori are all great writers and poets in the Romantic movement, and caught in a complicated web of love triangles, exiled from London's polite society. As they shelter from the storm, Byron challenges them all to write and share a horror story. What unfolds during this little game over the course of a dramatic night will change all their lives, and lead to the creation of two celebrated works of literature that will outlive them all: Frankenstein and The Vampyre.

The musical is based on the famous story of a fascinating summer at Lake Geneva two hundred years ago when a group of the Romantics gathered and Mary Shelley came up with the idea for Frankenstein. It explores the complex dynamics of sex, fame, heartbreak, and horror stories at play, as well as the realities of youth on the edge of adulthood, full of hope, creativity, chaos and the desire to escape, seeking to make sense of the world and express themselves through their art. Lyricist Dan Smith commented on how "strikingly modern" the story feels, and how it touches on issues relevant to the current age, such as "freedom of speech, the right to love who you choose, gender equality, impossible beauty standards, self-representation and artistic integrity."

Dan Smith is a Grammy-nominated and Brit Award-winning singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. Smith is the creative force and lead singer of Bastille, who have sold over 11 million records, had three number 1 albums on the UK charts and have been streamed over 7 billion times.

More details about Young Romantics, including dates, venue, casting, and creatives, are expected to be revealed in due course.